David Steele and Vinnie Iyer

Published on Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

It's been 10 years since a Super Bowl champion repeated, the 2003-'04 Patriots. Can anyone stop the Seahawks from being the next back-to-back champ, knocking them out before they can hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Glendale, Ariz., next month?

It’s a tough task, especially because they have home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The Seahawks are 24-2 at home including the playoffs the past three years and have the league's longest current winning streak at six games.

Still, the Seattle would have to do it one step at a time. That’s how we’re predicting the entire NFL postseason, a game at a time, from Wild Card Weekend to Super Bowl XLIX:

Wild-card weekend

NFC

Steele: Panthers over Cardinals The Cardinals are just too beaten up to last another week, not against a team that’s won four straight, is playing at home, has tightened up on defense and has Cam Newton playing like a star again. Even if the Cards’ defense could handle Newton, their depleted offense wouldn’t be able to make it count.

Iyer: Panthers over Cardinals History has been unkind to teams with a shaky quarterback situation going into the playoffs. Cam Newton over Ryan Lindley in a landslide.

Steele:Cowboys over Lions The Lions, especially with Ndamukong Suh playing, have a bruising defense. The Cowboys’ offensive line can handle it, though, just as it’s handled just about every defense all season and made DeMarco Murray’s and Tony Romo’s life so much easier. Finally, a second career playoff win for Romo, and the Cowboys’ second since 1996.

Iyer:Cowboys over Lions Suh got off without supension, but it's hard to think that won't bring some bad juju into his toughest matchup of the season against the Cowboys' linemen. There's a lot of talk about how Dallas will cover Calvin Johnson and keep him from dropping another Megatron bomb. But then again, Detroit may have bigger problems with Dez Bryant. X marks the spot.

AFC

Steele: Ravens over Steelers Le’Veon Bell makes enough of a difference that playing without him, or with him badly hurting, dooms the Steelers. It’s not impossible to see Ben Roethlisberger raise his game without a running threat there, but the Ravens’ front seven has woken up since Big Ben’s six-touchdown night in their last meeting.

Iyer: Steelers over Ravens The Ravens rolled at home in prime time. The Steelers did the same. The three-match will bring its usual brand of physical vitriol. The Steelers have a little more speed to go with that toughness, even without Bell.

Steele:Bengals over Colts Call it a hunch, but this is the year the Bengals break their postseason drought, and in the same building where they lost 27-0 earlier. The Colts simply no longer look like world-beaters, while the Bengals’ defense and running game can impose their will. Andy Dalton would just have to avoid messing up (again).

Iyer: Colts over Bengals We should expect Dalton to play better in the playoffs, because he really can't get any worse. The problem is, that still won't be good enough to topple Andrew Luck on his home field.

Divisional playoffs

NFC

Steele: Seahawks over Panthers It could get ugly. The Seahawks are just punishing teams lately, with Marshawn Lynch and the defense. Newton would need a lot more weapons besides himself to put a dent in this bunch.

Iyer: Seahawks over Panthers Carolina can make it interesting for a while with their defense, but in the end Russell Wilson, unlike Newton, has a lot more than his legs with which to make the big winning plays here.

Steele: Packers over Cowboys What the Cowboys have done on defense this season is a small miracle, but it ends in Lambeau Field. Presuming Aaron Rodgers’ calf is rested and healthy, the Packers’ offense will win a day full of offense. The Packers’ defense won’t scare anyone, but count on it to make bigger plays when it has the chance.

Iyer: Cowboys over Packers Something has to give here. Green Bay has rolled all season in Green Bay; Dallas has yet to lose outside of Dallas. Something says Wisconsin native Tony Romo will pull an Eli Manning and upset a less than 100 percent Rodgers at Lambeau in a thrilling shootout.

AFC

Steele: Patriots over Raven The Ravens have beaten the Patriots twice in Foxboro in the playoffs and should have won a third time (thanks, Billy Cundiff), but their paper-thin secondary has no chance against Tom Brady. Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil and the defense would have to get to Brady early and often, and it’s no sure thing that they can.

Iyer: Patriots over Colts This is an established horrible matchup for Indianapolis. The Patriots will exploit their run defense and weak tight end coverage, and then use Darrelle Revis and their strong pass defense to limit the Colts' one-dimensional attack.

Steele: Bengals over Broncos Again, just a feeling, although one backed by Peyton Manning’s messy performance in Cincinnati in Week 16. The Bengals defense can rise to the occasion; it’s just a matter of if it will in Denver, and if it can neutralize a Manning on a worrisome slump (by his standards, but that’s no small thing). The bet here is that the Bengals can do it again.

Iyer: Broncos over Steelers The Steelers can give the Broncos plenty of issues with their high-powered offense, which should have Bell back if they should advance here. Then again, the Steelers' defense can't really do much to slow down Peyton Manning and his receivers, and has been overrated against the run all season.

Conference championship games

NFC

Steele: Seahawks over Packers It could bear a strong resemblance to their season-opening showdown in Seattle, a 36-16 Seahawks domination. The Seahawks are looking too strong in every aspect of the game, even at quarterback, where Russell Wilson is doing everything they need for them to win.

Iyer: Seahawks over Cowboys This will feel like the Cowboys' upset victory in Seattle because it will be close. But the Seahawks, knowing better, shouldn't make the same kind of mistakes on offense and special teams to blow this one. Their defense also is much better equipped to cool off Romo in the rematch.

AFC

Steele: Patriots over Bengals The Bengals’ upset train stops here, with a crash. Another regular-season rematch, and a similar result: in October, the Patriots buried Cincinnati 43-17 to start a seven-game winning streak and end the talk that Brady had lost it. Brady and the Patriots won’t lose anything this time, on their home field with another Super Bowl on the line.

Iyer: Broncos over Patriots The Broncos needed to reinvent themselves as a run-heavy team to keep their defense fresher to make plays late and also not just rely on Manning's arm to move the ball early. It will work as a good keepaway strategy vs. Brady in the rematch.

Super Bowl XLIX

Steele: Seahawks over Patriots Yes, it will be the last team to repeat trying to stop this team from doing it. Don’t be surprised if the Seahawks defense does the same thing to this explosive offense and Hall of Fame quarterback that it did to the Broncos’ versions of them last year. The postseason will be sprinkled with the usual upsets and surprises. This won’t be one of them. These Seahawks have found themselves, and it will pay off with another Lombardi Trophy.

Iyer: Seahawks over Broncos Yes, it's a repeat out of a rare rematch, the first one since the Cowboys did in the Bills again 21 seasons ago. The results won't change in the desert, because despite Denver's upgrades, Seattle remains the nastier team overall. With it will come with questions of whether Peyton Manning will really hang it up this time.